It has always been materially
injurious to honest traffic, for it operates as an incentive to traders
in Mexico to supply without customs charges the wants of inhabitants on
this side of the line, and prevents the same wants from being supplied
by merchants of the United States, thereby to a considerable extent
defrauding our revenue and checking honest commercial enterprise.
Depredations by armed bands from Mexico on the people of Texas near
the frontier continue. Though the main object of these incursions is
robbery, they frequently result in the murder of unarmed and peaceably
disposed persons, and in some instances even the United States
post-offices and mail communications have been attacked. Renewed
remonstrances upon this subject have been addressed to the Mexican
Government, but without much apparent effect. The military force of this
Government disposable for service in that quarter is quite inadequate to
effectually guard the line, even at those points where the incursions
are usually made. An experiment of an armed vessel on the Rio Grande for
that purpose is on trial, and it is hoped that, if not thwarted by the
shallowness of the river and other natural obstacles, it may materially
contribute to the protection of the herdsmen of Texas.
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